Listen to All Hell
This new album from Los Campesinos after a seven years break sees a return to their emo themes of past, through a new lens of maturity. LC's ensemble of talent serve masterfully crafted tracks brimming with Indie Rock sound for Gareth and Kim to speak to us upon, politically as ever.
This album really connected with me as a fan of their work on albums Romance is Boring and We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. The track list even references the prior with the interlude "I. Spit; or, a Bite Mark in the Shape of the Sunflower State"
The first track starts the album off strong, introducing its sound with the initial almost-ambient intro subsiding to a pretty guitar part until that too allows space for Gareth and Kim to sing. I like the panning on the guitar at this part too.
The lyrics see the usual religious imagery invoked by Los Campesinos, in lines like "If youve got a cross to bear, call my name Ill see you there." They're like Hideaki Anno in a a way.
Around 2:50, the track really comes together with everyone working in conjunction and forming the introduction to the sound this album loves to use. The rest of the track keeps going strong until an interesting outro gives way for track 2.
This track starts off strong, not bothering with any of that introduction nonsense in favour of getting right into the action with a beautiful earworm of a guitar riff.
Gareth's new voice and vocal delivery here complement the instrumental beautifully, and notable too are the drums carrying this song along rhythmically.
The song sounds absolutely stunning by the time Kim and Gareth make it to the chorus, after which Gareth returns to his usual themes of leftism and alcoholism.
This track, with its faster tempo and great rhymes, had a great deal of energy packed into it--reminiscent of the track its title likely references, *Renato Dall'ara (2008)*. This is contrasted by the glass-beach-esque outro.
This would be a rly good song to sing along to :)
We start off strong with this track yet again, until the rock guitars give way to allow Gareth to deliver his opening verse.
The lines "I can see his rotten toothbrush in the bathroom mirror selfie", "They say put him down, a sickly dog, but competitions healthy" reminds me of Knee Deep at ATP, off their first release Hold On Now, Youngster.
This song's chorus is sufficient, but didn't stand out to me the way track 2's did.
The closing verse sees reference to both affiliate links and 'secular girls with Catholic guilt', beautifully encapsulating this record's mix of classic LC with modern themes.
Note: This song was released as a single prior to the album's release. I've come to appreciate it more in the wider context of the album (and the 4 track EP that preceded it), moreso atleast than I appreciated it as a standalone track.
This is the album's first interlude--A song type LC doesn't shy away from.
The repetitive guitar carries this cozy track along. Not much else to say.
Note: This track's title references a song from their third LP, Romance Is Boring.
This song has a pretty intro that reminded me of Avocado Baby when I first listened to it. It's the vocals.
In this baby between Romance Is Boring and No Blues of a track, Gareth's delivery resembles that of the former and the beautiful vocal layering resembles the latter. As a huge fan of both releases, I absolutely loved this track.
This track has plentiful lyrical leftism--Something I can't blame him for, considering the state of the United Kingdom.
I wonder if the "The punks on the playlist, are crooning for kindness" line was a callback to that "racists on the radio" line off The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future?
This track was released as a single before the release of the album, and, admittedly, was my least favorite of the four.
This one is a bit slower, and has some great lyricism. "Love lies bleeding’s a sobriquet, as the petals fall the pet names do the same" is a fucking amazing line.
This song has already been stuck in my head quite a bit. The 1:50 mark buildup feels nice and hype, and only becomes moreso as it goes along. I love love love the strings, they're so simple yet add so much.
"To the tune of the National Anthem" "Of a country that didnt survive" "In a language Id learned and forgotten" "Ill stay home keep the garden alive" has been looping in my head for the past day.
My view on this track really changed overtime, as I'm sure will happen with lots of this release. I at first didn't really like it at all--The only positive note I really had was that the way he says bootlicker kind of sounds like liquor, which is funny because Britain. Now though, I am very appreciative of this track.
This song sounds fun to play. I like that guitar riff. I really don't have much to say about this track--It's pretty simple, just getting cooler and cooler as it goes along. The ending half is great as the mix gets more and more full with instruments joining the fray. Once again, love the strings. Definitely one of LC's strong suits. I'll just copy paste in the notes I took while listening for the first time, I guess.
woah full on start cool i like that guitar riff this song already sounds like itd get stuck in my head gareth sounds pretty self hateful or burnt out in this track, complaining about capitalist boulder rolling probably this latter bit has such a full master this is great
I like the "Give us this day our daily dread" line a lot a lot a lot. I think it went over my head first time listening through, lol.
Second interlude, instrumental. Good palette cleanser. Nothing much to say.
Though not as sexually themed as I expected from the title, this is another great track with some fun drumming and vibey melody, notably in the third verse.
Again, this is what I feel is the most 'fun' song on the album, I can't imagine myself ever getting bored of it. For some reason the bridge kinda feels better than the chorus, but oh well.
This album mentions God a lot a lot. Makes sense, given its title.
This track starts off right away, with a very different sound to the one preceding it. A fun intro, but a bit boring.
The drums around the one minute mark signal an incoming drop that is oh so worth it. Gareth comes in to help build it up.
"She fucks to cum, I drink to be drunk, and both of us are wasted" Good old LC.
"(Can we all calm the fuck down?)" This is a callback to There Is a Flag. There Is No Wind, off Romance Is Boring. Awesome :D (i love that song sm)
Great song overall. Sadly, I found the lyricism pretty boring overall on this one. Bringing up Orpheus doesn't make it a good song :P. That aside, I enjoyed this one. For one last criticism, I feel it could've gone without the drawn-out outro.
This was my favorite single--a unique LC track with Kim on lead vocals and lyrics that'll be stuck in your head for days. Love the 1 minute mark so much. And the 1:20 guitar solo, fucking awesome.
When Gareth does come in on lead for a second, he does so with some fire lyrics. Kim then finishes the song off, with a name drop on the last line.
In spite of its simplicity, this one is definitely a highlight of the album.
There is nothing here to set the scene. No notable geography, or pathetic fallacy.
What I consider potentially the album's most redundant track. (of course excluding the interludes.) Who knows, there's a chance it grows on me and I eat my words.
"You gotta detox to retox" is funny and kinda relatable, atleast. The lyrics on this one are good, but don't fully stop the song from being forgettable.
The outro is nice, with the almost-spoken-word vocals reminding me of old songs. Beautiful strings.
This is the last track we have that was released as a single, and was a great one. Gareth's vocabulary must be so fucking big. I love the suburban boredom line. "I’m mouth agape arms open wide, not to receive but crucified" is great too.
Love the buildup around the 2 minute mark. The drops on this album are always sufficient, but never really feel really awesome.
"Bitter, lager, Guinness, cider, lemonade to chase" This line reminds me of that one line off Lovejoy's Pebble Brain.
Around 3:30 part with Gareth and Kim over the repetitive hat and kick is really really nice. And the guitar parts that come in after them is kickass! This track is great overall, a perfect penultimate song. I mean, it's no On GP, but close enough.
RARE LC ACOUSTIC GUITAR?!
I love the poetic lyricism in conjunction with Gareth using a higher part of his range. Not to be a cringe Radiohead fan, but they kinda did a True Love Waits. Can't blame them, it's a great way to end rock records.
Classic Los Campesinos! LP title drop :D, on same verse as song title namedrop too. Also "Heart Swells"
The vocal layering again is great. Nothing too exciting, but a beautiful and inspiring track to send us off. It feels very Modern-LC. ## Conclusion
All Hell delivered great fanservice to me as a fan of their older works whilst still seamlessly introducing newer concepts, musically and lyrically. Despite small disappointments, this is definitely a great release for the year. I can't put it on the level of Plastic Death though. That's not really a criticism though, as I can't really put anything released this year on the level of Plastic Death.
below, you can find links to some stuff.
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